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A review by arnrockwell
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 1 by William Flanagan, Naoko Takeuchi
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I am a life-long Sailor Moon fan and owning the manga is a dream come true. Although what happens in this first volume is not new to me, since I've seen the anime years before I read the manga, it was nice to see the original story for myself.
This is the first volume in the Dark Kingdom arc, in which the organization known as the Dark Kingdom and it's members serve as the main villains.
Sailor Moon in the tale of a 14-year-old middle school girl named Usagi Tsukino, who learns she has magical powers. By using a magical brooch, she transforms into the titular character and fights evil. The great thing about her is she's not perfect, far from it. She's a bit of crybaby, always late for school, gets bad grades, and rather each, sleep and play video games than do anything else. She often need to be reassured by friends and allies, as she tends to lack self-confidence at first.
Throughout this volume, Sailor Moon gains new allies in Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Jupiter. The primary villains are Jadeite and Nephrite, and the "monsters of the day" that serve them. Queen Beryl and Kunzite are also present, but serve more as background characters in this volume. Zoicite begins to serve as a main villain toward the end of the volume.
I found the art and storytelling in this book to be good, but not as good as the prequel Codename: Sailor V or later volumes. You can tell the author was still working on finalizing the look. The pacing was also very, very fast. Other than the major events occurring on different days, there is no clear indication of how time is passing. The characters, as they awakened one by one, all seemed to gain a grasp of their powers very quickly as well. However, at least that can be explained by latent memories from a previous life.
Not a strong start, but it is a good start.
This is the first volume in the Dark Kingdom arc, in which the organization known as the Dark Kingdom and it's members serve as the main villains.
Sailor Moon in the tale of a 14-year-old middle school girl named Usagi Tsukino, who learns she has magical powers. By using a magical brooch, she transforms into the titular character and fights evil. The great thing about her is she's not perfect, far from it. She's a bit of crybaby, always late for school, gets bad grades, and rather each, sleep and play video games than do anything else. She often need to be reassured by friends and allies, as she tends to lack self-confidence at first.
Throughout this volume, Sailor Moon gains new allies in Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Jupiter. The primary villains are Jadeite and Nephrite, and the "monsters of the day" that serve them. Queen Beryl and Kunzite are also present, but serve more as background characters in this volume. Zoicite begins to serve as a main villain toward the end of the volume.
I found the art and storytelling in this book to be good, but not as good as the prequel Codename: Sailor V or later volumes. You can tell the author was still working on finalizing the look. The pacing was also very, very fast. Other than the major events occurring on different days, there is no clear indication of how time is passing. The characters, as they awakened one by one, all seemed to gain a grasp of their powers very quickly as well. However, at least that can be explained by latent memories from a previous life.
Not a strong start, but it is a good start.